New focus on Australian designers and their award winning responses to current community challenges

The DIA, Australia’s peak national design body, released the inaugural recipients for its Designers Australia Awards 2021. The final winners out of a shortlist of seventy-four across the country, reflect the designer’s ability to make a strong contribution to a better world and include three national winners, a President’s Award and thirty-one awards of Merit.

The awards, a first for the industry, identify Australia’s preeminent designers and studios, calling attention to the individual/s and their distinguished design processes as much as the outcome. Bates Smart for Gandel Wing, Cabrini was awarded the ‘PLACE’ category winner, while DesignByThem for DL Range by Gibson Karlo and Dion Lee received the winning ‘USE’ award. Monash University Department of Design XYX Lab for HyperSext City won ‘INTERACT’, and product designer, artist and mentor Edward Linacre received the President’s Award.

DIA’s Designers Australia 2021 Awards are the culmination of months of evaluation, development and revisions. They are different in their categories and criteria to most of the design awards currently offered in Australia. The three ground-breaking cross-disciplinary design categories would have previously been categorised by traditional design disciplines such as industrial, interior, graphic, digital, product, environmental, textile, fashion, and many more.

DIA President Gavin Campbell FDIA said: “Since 1948, the Design Institute of Australia has been committed to nurturing and empowering designers. It is pleasing to see the culmination of these awards, responses in design shifts while also creating a platform for our collective future. The winning recipients and awards of Merit have all in their way embraced ethical, diverse and sustainable processes through collaborative and professional practice. Their projects are a testament to their values and entrepreneurship, and it’s our responsibility to identify and support them as design leaders and to demonstrate the value of design to the broader community.”

Awards jurors, and internationally renowned Dutch trend forecasters and design educators Lidewij Edelkoort & Philip Fimmanoalso commented: “The Cabrini Malvern Hospital extension by Mark Healy the studio director of Bates Smart truly encapsulates our times; from the importance the medical sector plays in our lives to designing social spaces with well-being in mind. The new Gandel Wing’s natural finishes, rounded edges and neutral palette illustrate the power of buildings that can heal us. Considered lighting and attention to detail therefore become critical to care. The comforting interiors have been so thoughtfully reimagined that we thought it was a sustainable hotel concept — now that’s somewhere one should check-in! It’s time that hospital and hospitality go hand in hand.”

Tuba Kocaturk, awards juror, and professor of integral design said: “The DL Range by DesignByThem presents a timeless process of experimentation with form and materials which brings together functional and purposeful production techniques from fashion and industrial design, translated into an innovative marriage of comfort and inspirational design.

“The Monash University’s design, the HyperSext City, presents a series of interaction platforms where the design transcends being merely a product, but rather becomes a research and a communication platform, which informs, raise awareness and continually involves its users/audience in the evolution of the displayed content. Both projects are a testament to the changing role and position of design, moving from the traditional concept of a tangible product through to orchestration of new interactions and experiences.”

• PLACE winner — Bates Smart
Bates Smart for Gandel Wing, Cabrini identified for their exemplary approach to design by focusing on wellness and human-centred healthcare. Gandel Wing was praised as a place in partnership with nature and technology, encouraging healing rather than simply treating disease. The architects were honoured for responding to the hospital’s evolving needs by comforting the lives of many.

• USE winner — DesignByThem
DesignByThemfor DL Range by Gibson Karlo collaborates between founders and industrial designers Sarah Gibson and Nicholas Karlovasitis and Australian fashion designer Dion Lee. The key objective of this project was to promote cross-disciplinary design by creating a unique body of work merging fashion and industrial design principles.

• INTERACT winner — Monash University XYX Lab
Monash University Department of Design for HyperSext City use design as an intersecting mediator, educational and collaborative tool giving voice to community members. The University’s XYX Lab was commended for its investigative exhibition encouraging and empowering people to comprehend and imagine complex issues together.

• President’s Award — Edward Linacre
Multidisciplinary designer, artist, student mentor and former DIA Graduate of the Year recipient Edward Linacre applauded for his contribution to the profession, and commitment to diversity and equality across cultures, gender and race. He is a partner at Copper Design, which resides within Mycelium Studios, a co-working hub and place where designers coexist and learn from each other.

Industry leading jurors include Alessandra Baldereschi, Susanna Bilardo, Lisa Cahill, Gavin Campbell, Lidewij Edelkoort, Philip Fimmano, Marcus Fairs, John Gertsakis, Dr Rafael Gomez, Peta Heffernan, Fenella Kernebone, Tuba Kocaturk, Dr Scott Mayson, Nicole Monks, Lorenzo Palmeri, and Quan Payne

Complete list of winners and merit recipients:

PLACE category winner, representing the spaces we live, work, and play:
– Bates Smart for Gandel Wing, Cabrini

PLACE Awards of Merit
– Billard Leece Partnership and Diller Scofidio + Renfro for Susan Wakil Health Building
– Comuniti for Davidson
– Cox Architecture for Parmelia Hilton Hotel
– Cox Architecture for Sydney Coliseum Theatre, West HQ
– Cox Architecture and Neeson Murcutt + Neille for Australian Museum Project Discover
– Danielle Brustman for Brighton Street Early Learning
– DesignInc Adelaide for DesignInc Adelaide Studio
– Elenberg Fraser for Market Lane
– Latitude for SBB
– Mata Design Studio for Applecross Residence
– Mycelium Studios for Mycelium Studios
– Naomi Milgrom Foundation and Glenn Murcutt for MPavilion 2019
– Phillips/Pilkington Architects for Gunditj Mirring Keeping Place
– Russell & George for Sarah & Sebastian
– Skeehan Studio for Canberra Glassworks Shop
– Studio-Gram for The Guardsman
– Walter Brooke & Associates and Genesin Studio for iTL
– Walter Brooke & Associates and Hecker Guthrie for EOS
– Woods Bagot for Central Park Tower Refurbishment
– Zwei Interiors Architecture for body of work

USE category winner describing things we use:
– DesignByThem for DL Range by Gibson Karlo and Dion Lee

USE Awards of Merit
– Cobalt Design for KeepCup Thermal Cup & Press Fit Lid
– DesignByThem for August Lounges by Gibson Karlo
– Hare + Klein for Bridge Table
– JamFactory for Solute Pendant Light
– JDT Design for LEGO 3D printed Spinner
– Naomi Milgrom Foundation and BoardGrove Architects for MPavilion 2020 Stool Dolly
– Skeehan Studio for NAVE Collection
– Yellow Goat Design for H2O

INTERACT category winner depicting what or who we interact with:
– Monash University XYX Lab for HyperSext City

INTERACT Awards of Merit
– Black Squid Design for A-Lure Gin
– Ian Wong for 100 Objects & I-CONIC
– United Studio for Markr

President’s Award
– Edward Linacre for contribution to the profession